Businesses often use a coordinated system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources to move items from point to point. This system is often referred to as the supply chain. Supply chain management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain. The entities involved in the supply chain typically consist of purchasers and sellers, such as, for example, suppliers, manufacturers, goods and service providers, distributors, sales entities (e.g., wholesale, retail, etc.), end customers, and the like.
To manage the supply chain, businesses often use forms and documents (electronic and/or paper) to communicate and track activities in the supply chain. In many businesses, these documents may be sent and/or received electronically using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). EDI is a commonly used method for the transfer of business transaction data, including the automated purchase of goods and services. For example, when a business desires to purchase goods and/or services, the business may use a purchase order (PO). The PO typically indicates the type, quantity, and price of items the business desires to purchase. The PO may also indicate the terms of payment, delivery date, and shipping. When a seller provides goods and/or services to the business, the seller may submit an invoice to the business. The invoice typically indicates the type, quantity, and price of items the seller has provided to the buyer. The invoice may also contain a reference to a corresponding PO, terms of payment, delivery date, and shipping information.
Another document that businesses frequently use in supply chain management is an Advanced Ship Notice (ASN). An ASN is a notification provided by the seller to the business indicating that a shipment of goods is currently, or soon-to-be, in-transit. The ASN is designed to inform a business of shipments before they arrive at the business location (e.g., distribution center, warehouse, etc.). The ASN contains pertinent information such as the bill of lading number, PO number, shipment information (e.g., weight, quantity, carrier, date of shipment, etc.), the goods contained in the shipment, and the like. By receiving an ASN from its suppliers, a business may realize improved efficiency in the supply chain through reduced receiving time and costs, improved supply chain visibility, improved planning for the receipt of merchandise in a distribution center, etc.
Systems and methods have been created to use a matching tool to perform matches between invoices. One such example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,411 (the '411 patent) issued on Aug. 9, 2005 to Fox et al. The '411 patent discloses an invoice processing tool for entering and storing invoices. In addition, the '411 patent discloses a database tool having goods received receipts and purchase orders. According to the '411 patent, a logical three-way match is performed and the stored invoice and logical results are transferred from the invoice processing tools to a database tool.
Although the system and method of the '411 patent may enable the determination of a three-way match, the system and method do not offer a way to evaluate advanced shipping notices against purchase orders before items are shipped and/or received. Thus, the system of the '411 patent does not provide mechanisms to automatically identify discrepancies between items purchased and items shipped at an earlier stage in the process.
The disclosed embodiments are directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.